When I was a child, my dad and I both delivered instructions from my mother in the same way. “Mom said” was the famous phrase. “Mom said you need to clean out the dishwasher.” “Mom said she needs you to vacuum.” “Mom said to go to bed.” From my perspective, I carried virtually no weight in the realm of telling my father what to do. He was the father; I was the child. The pecking order was quite obvious. So when mom gave me a message for him I prefaced it with “Mom said.” However, whenever he brought a message to me from mom he said the same thing. As my father, he had every right to ask or tell me what to do. But instead he resorted to “Mom said” making my mother look like the “bad guy.” Often she would call us out for using that phrase and looking back I can understand why. My mother wanted and deserved the help she was asking for. And most of the time, whatever she asked was ultimately a benefit to the rest of us individually or as a family unit.
“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works’” (Matthew 16:24-27). How do we unpack this scripture? Should I react to it the same way I reacted as a child to my mother handing down orders? “Jesus said” to do this and that. Why do I do the things He tells me to do? Or do I even do them? Do I tip toe around them as I used to tip toe around my parents’ home trying to avoid detection and therefore being free to do what I wanted instead of what my mother desired all the while reaping the benefits of living there? Did I not love my mom? Do I not love Jesus? Jesus began with: “If anyone desires to come after Me” (emphasis added). The word “desires” should stir our hearts. If we do not want to follow Jesus, we don’t have to. He won’t force us. And even though I didn’t help my mom the way I should have, she still fed me, clothed me, loved me, etc. The Lord does the same thing. His blessings or even blessings we perceive as from Him (although they might not be) still rain down on us whether we do His will or not. “For [God] makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45b).
After growing up, I’ve realized my parents should have compelled me to help more around the house. However, when I moved back home after college, if I had chosen to be a bum instead of getting a job my parents would have given me a couple of choices none of which would have resulted in me laying around. The requirements for continued lodging in their home was perhaps unspoken but never the less well understood. Similarly, if I decide not to make the principles of heaven my own, I will not be happy there and will not be allowed to stay. I might even think I want to be there but God knows the heart. When the end comes, then those who have truly wanted to followed Jesus, who have not only known His words and works but who have hearts touch by the Holy Spirit so that they have done the works of a Christian out of love will be welcomed into His kingdom. People who have tip toed around Jesus, who have given Him lip service or even outwardly done good works but who have not loved Him and therefore not loved others will not be there even though, to all outward appearances, they seemed to be “saved” here on earth. ““Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matthew 7:21-23).
The truth is that following Jesus means loving God and others more than loving ourselves. I should have cleaned out the dishwasher not just because “mom said” but because I love her, and I’m happy to help share in the burdens of the household. Am I willing to share in the burdens of heaven? Or is there a “Jesus said” attached to everything I do? Am I only doing what Jesus asks because I think it is the right thing to do or because I actually love Jesus and want to help in His mission work? I’ll admit my motives are not always on the up and up. I’m a very selfish person and generally only want to do the things I want to do. But I know if I desire to surrender my life to Christ, that He has promised to change me from the inside out. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). If I allow Jesus to work in my heart, the things I say and do for Him will no longer be an inconvenience for me but will be a joy.